Creative Team

William Theisen*, Director/Choreographer
Tippen Davidson, Music Director
Ken Goldstein, Scenic Designer
Deborah Bell, Costume Designer
Annmarie Duggan, Lighting Designer
Richard Lighthall, Sound Designer
Mark Harborth*, Production Stage Manager
Brian Kelley, Technical Director
Jerry Lapidus, Company Manager
Terry Tichenor, Co-Music Director
Julia Davidson Truilo, Associate Producer

Cast

John Muriello* - Don Alhambra
Gary Briggle* - Duke of the Plaza-Toro
Julia Davidson Truilo - Duchess of Plaza Toro
Colm Fitzmaurice - Marco Palmieri
Joe Speildenner - Giuseppe Palmieri
Trinity Baker - Vittoria
Angela Birchett - Inez
Jeffrey Dean - Luiz
Scott Guthrie - Antonio
Evelyn LaLonde - Fiamette
Michael Marcotte - Francesco
Angela Sacco - Casilda
Erin Sauter - Tessa
Amanda Wansa - Giulia
Elizabeth Westerman - Gianetta
Nicholas Barnes - Ensemble
Michael Slater Evariste - Ensemble
Heather Friedman - Ensemble
Liz George - Ensemble
Evan Hoffmann - Ensemble
Tiffany Howard - Ensemble
Alex Johnson - Ensemble
Damon Keith - Ensemble
Karen Koscoe - Ensemble
Jeremy Parrish - Emsemble

Tagline

Landing in the romantic setting of Venice, SMT delivers this Gilbert and Sullivan classic with true Italian panache. The performers serve a full course show by taking Sullivan's collezione of great song, mistura of dance and a vetrina of love and laughter. The Gondoliers is directed by Bill Theisen, who directed and choreographed our wonderful hit Forever Plaid and our spectacular production of HMS Pinafore.

Deborah Bell, Costume Designer
Deborah Bell, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has designed costumes for musicals, opera and theatre productions. Her designs for H.M.S. Pinafore and Rags were seen at SMT during the summer of 1999. She has also designed costumes for the University of Alabama, TheatreFest, Western Stage, and Colorado Shakespeare Festival. A member of United Scenic Artists, she has exhibited in Italy, Czechoslovakia, and several cities in the United States. She has lectured at universities in Korea, Japan, Italy, and the United States. She won the Southeast United States Institute for Theatre Technology Founders Award. She has also served as a member of ISITT's directors-at-large and as Education Commissioner. Fluent in Italian, she continues interest and research in commedia dell'arte and Italian playwright/actor/director/designer Dario Fo, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. She recieved a grant to study at his archival center in Milan and produced an exhibit representing major themes of his work, spanning forty years.

Tippen Davidson, Music Director/Producer
Tippen Davidson attended the Julliard School of Music in New York and is an accomplished violist and conductor. Mr. Davidson's SMT conducting and music direction credits include The Telephone/The Medium, Street Scene, H.M.S. Pinafore, La Boheme, Camelot, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Company, Kismet, The Barber of Seville, Iolanthe, Follies, West Side Story, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Rothschilds, The Merry Widow, Of Thee I Sing, The Marriage of Figaro, Patience, A Midsummer Night's Dream/The Fairy Queen, Candide, The Mikado, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Gondoliers.

Annmarie Duggan, Lighting Designer
Annmarie Duggan is happy to be returning for her seventh summer season. She is proud to have designed more than twenty-five Seaside productions in those years. Other credits inclue Wit for Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont, starring international star Lisa Harrow, the off-Broadway production of Jolson and Company for the York Theatre, the opera The Piper of Hamelin, starring Sesame Street's Bob McGrath at the Manhattan School of Music, New ork and Mujeres Y Hombres for Carlota Santana Spanish Dance at the New Victory Theatre, New York. Her work has been seen in theaters around the country, including Utah Musical Theatre, Worcester Foothills Theatre, Cumberland County Playhouse, Invisible Theatre, Florida Repertory Theater, Little Theatre on the Square, Florida Studio Theatre, Hampton Playhouse, Theatre Winter Haven, Circa 21 Playhouse, Music Theatre North, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre and New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts.

Ken Goldstein, Scenic Designer
Ken Goldstein has designed at such regional theaters as Worcester Foothills Theatre, Northern Stage, Seacoast Repertory Theatre, American Stage and Bristol Valley Theatre. As associate set designer at the Tom Schwinn Studio in New York City, he has designed for such projects as the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversay Special, The Hispanic Heritage Awards, A&E's Live By Request (Neil Diamond), VH1's Storytellers (GooGooDolls), the NFL Draft and Bravo's Best of Broadway. Mr. Goldstein holds a BA from Hofstra University, where he is currently an adjunct professor, and and MFA from Brandeis University. Mr. Goldstein's proudest moment however was last August, when he married the actress Sara Schatz.

Mark Harborth*, Production Stage Manager
Mark Harborth returns this year for his ninth season at SMT. He has served as an actor (As You Like It), director (High Spirits, Forever Plaid) and Production Stage Manager. Prior to returning to Florida, he recently directed John Patrick Shanley's The Big Funk in New York, as well as an award-winning Noises Off. As a director, he has had over twenty years of experience including working on Broadway and directing off-Broadway, national tours, university theater, dinner theater, stock and regional theater, and numerous off-off-Broadway musicals and plays. As a Production Stage Manager, he has worked regionally at theaters like Tennessee Rep., but loves the time he spends with the people at SMT. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and Actors' Equity.

Brian Kelley, Technical Director
This is Brian Kelley's sixth summer working full-time for Seaside Music Theater. Previously he worked as Head Stage Staff for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Legend of the Seas and as 2nd Rigger for Station Casino in Kansas City. Mr. Kelley served as carpenter for the national tours of Joseph, 42nd Street and Smokey Joe's Café. He is the proud owner of Spunky, the three-legged wonder. Mr. Kelley would like to thank all the sweaty people in the shop who make his summer so much easier.

Jerry Lapidus, Company Manager
Jerry Lapidus came to Daytona Beach to become a part of the SMT family after many years working with developing theaters for Actors' Equity Association, the actors' union, in New York. Since then, he and his family (attorney Anita and equestrian Kim) have accumulated three dogs, four horses, a barn cat and a big green pick-up truck and mini-van to carry them all. Although frequently mistaken for Richard Dreyfuss, Lapidus has promised his family not to jeopardize his job by attempting to act for Seaside. Mr. Lapidus has also worked for AMAS Repertory Theatre, Circle Repertory Theatre, the Roundabout Theatre and Long Island's Gateway Playhouse.

Richard Lighthall, Sound Designer
Richard Lighthall was introduced to theater at a very young age and began mixing productions at the age of 12. Mr. Lighthall has assisted in sound system design and installation for numerous theaters and served as an audio consultant for Carnival Cruise Lines. He is a lead production employee at his hometown civic center and is an IATSE Journeyman. Mr. Lighthall currently holds the Audio Engineer position at Middle Tennessee State University.

William Theisen*, Director/Choreographer
Bill Theisen returns to SMT after having played Pseudolus in Forum and Old Joe in Damn Yankees and directing H.M.S. Pinafore and Forever Plaid in previous seasons here in Daytona Beach. He just finished playing nine different characters in Candide at Portland Opera, Toddy in Victor/Victoria and directing South Pacific with the Little Theatre on the Square. When Theisen leaves at the end of the summer, he travels to his home state, Wisconsin, to direct the Midwest Premiere of the new musical, The Spitfire Grill, which is a co-production with Skylight Opera Theatre and American Folklore Theatre. Other future engagements include directing and choreographing The Mikado at Opera Carolina, and H.M.S. Pinafore with the Mississippi Opera.

Terry Tichenor, Co-Music Director
As SMT's "on call" music director and pianist, Terry Tichenor was most recently seen in My Way. While last season's collaboration with Donna Drake on the production of Honk! remains an all-time favorite experience, conducting shows such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hello Dolly!, Crazy For You, 42nd Street, High Spirits and appearing on the Seaside stage as the accompanist, Manny, in Master Class are but a few of his contributions. Terry coaches and accompanies in the voice studios of Jane Christeson and Lloyd Linney at Stetson School of Music. He works privately with the voice studios of Mollie and Robert Rich, as well. His collaborations as a workshop clinician with Associate Producer Julia Truilo has been extremely rewarding to his growth as a musical artist. Terry is a recipient of the Ila B. Murphy Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to SMT. He was most recently recognized by Pi Kappa Lamda at Stetson School of Music for outstanding service to the music school.

Julia Davidson Truilo, Associate Producer
Julia Truilo is a founding member of SMT and has performed here in a host of capacities both onstage and off. Her favorite roles for the company include Ida in last season's Honk!, Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as Rosina in Barber of Seville, Anna in King and I, Gina/Harpo in A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine and Sally in Follies. She also directs for the company, including 1998's highly successful Camelot. Ms. Truilo spends her non-stage time watching the budget as SMT's Associate Producer. Elsewhere she has performed major roles in operas from Monteverdi to Robert Ward, as well as in a host of operettas and musical comedies with such companies as the Santa Fe Opera, the Orlando Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, New York's Bandwagon Theater Company and the Opera Ensemble of New York. She continues to do concert and oratorio work with ensembles around the country.

(*) Courtesy of Actors' Equity Association